''Bjerkandera'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of wood-rotting fungi in the family

Phanerochaetaceae The Phanerochaetaceae are a family of mostly crust fungi in the order Polyporales. Taxonomy Phanerochaetaceae was first conceived by Swedish mycologist John Eriksson in 1958 as the subfamily Phanerochaetoideae of the Corticiaceae. It was later ...

Taxonomy

The genus was

circumscribed In geometry, a circumscribed circle for a set of points is a circle passing through each of them. Such a circle is said to ''circumscribe'' the points or a polygon formed from them; such a polygon is said to be ''inscribed'' in the circle. * Circum ...

by Finnish mycologist

Petter Adolf Karsten Petter Adolf Karsten (16 February 1834 – 22 March 1917) was a Finland, Finnish mycology, mycologist, the foremost expert on the fungi of Finland in his day, and known in consequence as the "father of Finnish mycology". Karsten was born in Merim ...

in 1879. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

, '' B. adusta'', was originally described as ''Boletus adustus'' by

Carl Ludwig Willdenow Carl Ludwig Willdenow (22 August 1765 – 10 July 1812) was a German botanist, pharmacist, and plant Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist. He is considered one of the founders of phytogeography, the study of the geographic distribution of plants. ...

in 1787. The generic name honours Swedish naturalist Clas Bjerkander. Karsten included seven species in addition to the type: ''Gelatoporia dichroa, B. dichroa'', ''Skeletocutis amorpha, B. amorpha'', ''Bjerkandera fumosa, B. fumosa'', ''Skeletocutis amorpha, B. kymatodes'', ''B. diffusa'', and ''B. isabellina''. Most of those species have been since moved to different genera or synonym (biology), synonymized. In a 1913 survey of polypore genera, Adeline Ames included ''B. adusta'', ''B. fumosa'', and ''Abortiporus puberula, B. puberula''; the latter fungus is now placed in ''Abortiporus''. Marinus Anton Donk included only ''B. adusta'' and ''B. fumosa'' in a 1974 publication. Some authors have suggested to merge these two species into other genera, such as ''Gloeoporus'', ''Tyromyces'', or ''Grifola''. Molecular phylogenetic analysis has demonstrated that the two traditional ''Bjerkandera'' fungi form a monophyletic group that is sister taxon, sister to the crust fungus ''Terana coerulea''. The little-known Cuban species ''Bjerkandera subsimulans, B. subsimulans'' and ''Bjerkandera terebrans, B. terebrans'', both originally described by Miles Berkeley and Moses Ashley Curtis, were transferred to ''Bjerkandera'' by William Alphonso Murrill in 1907, and are accepted as valid species by Index Fungorum. ''Bjerkandera atroalba'' and ''Bjerkandera centroamericana, B. centroamericana'' are two neotropical species that were transferred to ''Bjerkandera'', and described as new, respectively, in 2015. In 2021 four new species were added from South America and Asia.

Description

The basidiocarp, fruit bodies of ''Bjerkandera'' fungi have soft and pliable pileus (mycology), caps with an upper surface texture ranging from finely hairy to smooth. The pore surface on the undersurface of the cap ranges from grey to black or buff to greyish brown. The tubes are the same colour. A dark, denser zone is typically present between tubes and the trama (mycology), context, which is usually white to buff. The hyphal system in ''Bjerkandera'' is monomitic, containing only generative hyphae. These hyphae have clamp connections, clamps, and are thin to thick-walled. Cystidia are absent from the hymenium. The basidiospore, spores of ''Bjerkandera'' are smooth with a short cylindrical shape, thin-walled, and do not react in Melzer's reagent.

Habitat and distribution

''Bjerkandera'' fungi usually grow on hardwoods, and are rarely on conifers. They cause a wood-decay fungus#White rot, white rot.

Species

, Index Fungorum lists the following species in ''Bjerkandera'':

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2265553 Taxa described in 1879 Phanerochaetaceae Polyporales genera Taxa named by Petter Adolf Karsten